Magazine publishers know the importance of the cover image as an eye-catching newsstand impulse buy. 80 percent of consumer magazines’ newsstand sales are determined by what is shown on the cover, a fact that can mean the difference between a magazine’s success and failure over time. The average reader spends only three to five seconds scanning a magazine cover before deciding whether to buy that issue. Magazine covers not only offer information about what’s inside a particular issue, they also provide significant cultural cues about social, political, economic, and medical trends. As both historical artifacts and marketing tools, magazine covers deserve closer study. You are going to design the cover of a magazine about you using your interests as inspiration for the information displayed. Include the following on your cover:

· Name of Magazine

· A background and main photo

· Date and issue number

· Price

· a main story line and at least 3 smaller story lines

· Mailing Label - use your name and use the schools address (600 W. Highland Blvd. Inverness, FL 34452)

· Bar code

You may incorporate photos you have stored at a file hosting site, you may borrow my camera and take a few photos, you may even want to bring in photos from home that you would like to make use of. For additional photos you could grab some images from the Internet.

To get started spend a few minutes looking up and browsing magazine covers online to get an idea for a design, there is no one website to do this at so you may want to just start using Google Images. Pay attention to both the larger portions of the cover that immediately catch your eye (title, main photo, background) but then also the smaller elements used to bring the cover together (story titles, colors, fonts).

For this project you may choose to work in Word, Publisher or Photoshop…or some combination of the three.

As you’re working continue to ask yourself:

1. Do all the parts work together?

2. Think about readability, can you read the type against the background? Is the type style readable? Are the sentences too long? Are the titles descriptive enough to make you know what the article is about? Does the type size signify the importance?

3. Does the photo or photos support the theme? Does the photo catch your eye? Is it too busy or too simple?

4. How is your effort and craftsmanship? Does your cover look professionally neat?

5. Layout, how did you arrange all the elements? Is the type all lined up flush left, right, centered? Is the type over the picture or a background and if so does it work? Did you add a banner with the issue date, web site, and cost? Does the layout make it easy to read or confusing?

Save your final product as lastname-memag.xxx in DD1/project.

Use the "Turn In" button for this assignment on Edmodo.

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